mitt romney. and tonight, the polls show the race is tightening fast. the republican opponent more fired up than ever. his supporters saying they want to know why the president didn't seem to show up and fight. and that's where we began. let's get right to it. >> yeah. >> reporter: that debate, what happened? >> well, governor romney had a good night. i had a bad night. >> reporter: how bad? >> well, it's not the first time i've had a bad night. but i think what's important is that the fundamentals of what this race is about haven't changed. governor romney went to a lot of trouble to try to hide what his positions are, because he knows that those ideas have been rejected. they won't work. and if he's making an honest presentation about what he's proposed, he will lose, because the american people are not going to go back there. what this comes down to is, how are we going to grow an economy in which everybody gets a fair shot? and governor romney's prescription is that if we cut taxes by $5 trill